So I'm back...and life is a bitch. So yeah...enjoy! Big thanks (as usual) to my beta uyay! I don't know what I'd do without her :)

Mori opened his eyes slowly, his head pounding. He groaned and felt an ache in his neck. His entire body was sore, as if he had been beaten and then thrown off a cliff. He placed his hand on his neck and felt something poking out of the skin. He tugged on it and with a small twinge of pain, it broke free, tearing some skin. Curiously, he examined it in his hands and saw it was a dart. He closed his eyes and struggled to think what had happened.

Why was he in the room alone? Where was Haruhi? Kurai? And why was there a dart in his neck? He rubbed his temples and thought back. Little bits and pieces came back.

Kurai had to come to take Haruhi.

Haruhi made him promise not to fight.

Kurai threw her into the hallway and Mori stood out up, wanting to beat the living shit out of him and then.…nothing.

'No,' Mori thought. 'No, no, no, no. He has Haruhi. How long have I been out? They could be out of the country by now.'

Mori stood and immediately felt a pounding fill his head. The pain seemed to pulse inside his head and he stumbled to the wall. Leaning against it, he held his head in his hands and silently screamed while he rode out the pain. Finally, the pain dulled into something he could stand.

Mori slowly shifted his weight from the wall to his own feet and felt his muscles groan in protest. All of his body seemed to ache as he took a step towards the door. He shook his head and mentally blocked the pain.

He was strong. He would fight through this pain.

Mori got to the open door and looked down the long hallway. At one end was a door and the other was a seemingly endless corridor. Mori decided to go towards the door, reasoning it probably led to a way out, the way Haruhi and Kurai most likely left. Mori braced himself against the wall with one hand and took a step down the hallway. He bit his bottom lip and steeled himself. He took another step and focused on a mantra in his head as he walked.

'Left, pause, right, pause, left, pause, right…" Mori made it to the door and took a break. Slowly, the body aches were going away and it was becoming bearable to remain upright. 'That or I'm getting used to it,' Mori thought drolly. He placed his hand on the knob and said a silent prayer that it would be open. With every muscle taut, he turned the handle and felt relief run through him when it opened. He was met with the blinding glare of the sun.

Mori squinted and turned his eyes away from the sun. He was looking back inside the hallway when he saw something lying on the ground. He picked it up and flipped it over in his hands. His breath caught and he remembered what Haruhi had said earlier; her voice coming back to him with both relief and anxiety.

"'I'll leave a clue. A word scratched in the ground, a note, something that you can figure out.'"

…..~…..…..

Haruhi sat in the back of the car, silent. She refused to talk or even look at Kurai. They were in a normal car that blended in extremely well. Kurai sat beside her, his knee touching hers. Even this little contact brought bile to the back of her throat. She had tried to move away but Kurai had followed and now had her pinned against the door. She knew she could fight him, insist he leave her alone, but she had no rebellious spirit left inside her.

When she saw Mori fall, completely limp, she knew it had been Kurai's plan all along. Everything fell together. He had never planned to let him go. Kurai had always understood that Haruhi wouldn't stop fighting until she had nothing left to fight for. So he took it away from her: Mori; her reason to fight, to hope that she'd ever get out from Kurai's reign.

"Haruhi?"

Haruhi ignored Kurai, her thoughts still dominated by the haunting memory.

He continued, unswayed by her cold silence, "He had to die, you know that? We could never truly be together while he was still alive."

Haruhi continued to be silent, registering his words numbly. She looked out the window at the blur of houses and trees. Something was to be said of the blur; everything passed by so quickly. Just when she and Mori had finally connected, it all ended in one second.

"He was an obstacle between you and I. Now we don't have to worry about him or any of your previous…friends." Venom dripped off his tongue with the last word. "We can leave this place and never worry about anyone of them ever again."

Haruhi closed her eyes and sighed. "My father," she said quietly, her voice scratchy and hoarse. She didn't move her gaze from the window but could still feel when Kurai's eyes turned to her. She felt the eyes rake over her body and end on her face.

Kurai took a deep breath and placed a hand on her thigh. Haruhi tensed but said nothing. "I will take care of him. We'll leave him money before we go."

Haruhi nodded almost imperceptively and sat for almost another full minute before she asked, "Go?"

"Leave," Kurai confirmed. "We'll probably head to America or France, I haven't decided yet. Do you have a preference?"

Haruhi felt a heavy weight settle on her shoulders. She shook her head and said nothing. Kurai's hand was still on her thigh and she felt him rub her thigh reassuringly. She glanced at the hand, debating pushing it off before settling back and turning to the window again. What is the point in caring anymore?

Sooner than she expected, the scenery became familiar and she recognized where they were. She remembered the haunting words he had whispered in her ear back at where she had been held prisoner, "We'll burn away the things that tie you to this town." They pulled into the all familiar drive and parked near the front door.

Haruhi turned to Kurai to find him looking over her carefully. Before he could say anything, the driver opened Kurai's door, startling Haruhi. She hadn't even heard him get out. Kurai glanced at the driver, and then back at Haruhi. He simply said, "Come on," before moving over and getting out of the car.

Haruhi sat, in shock for a few seconds. Kurai leaned in the door and she saw the hostility in his eyes again. "Come on!" he said again, this time with more malice. When she didn't jump or move immediately, she saw the temper flare in his eyes again and he reached in and grabbed her good wrist, none too lightly. He dragged her out of the vehicle and pulled her to her feet roughly when she landed on the ground.

Haruhi stared at Kurai and said nothing. Kurai stared back, the temper still not gone from his eyes. He glanced at the driver behind him and said, "Get the stuff out of the trunk."

Once the driver had scurried away, Kurai pushed Haruhi into the car and held his body on top of hers. He growled into her ear, "You will listen to me, whether you like it or not. Do you understand?" She didn't reply and he repeated, shaking her, "Do you understand?"

Haruhi nodded her head and said quietly, "Yes."

"Good." He stayed where he was, his face dangerously close to Haruhi's. Haruhi felt bile rise up in the back of her throat as his lips moved closer to hers. She could feel his breath on her cheeks and nose. She turned her head and he glared at her. For a second, she was scared he would hit her before he shoved her away. She stumbled for a few steps before catching herself against the mirror of the car. He went back to the driver and took something out of the trunk.

Kurai stalked back over to her, carrying a large red gas can in one hand. He grabbed the back of her neck with the other and forcefully led her to the front of the Ouran High School. He forced her gaze to the building.

"We will burn this down together."

...So Mori's not dead! Yay! I'll try to update sooner, I promise! :D